"Snowball attack!" Gerde whirled instantly to the direction Bekhi was flicking the small pebble from, and batted it out of the air with her sword.
"I did it, Mama! I did it! Can I hunt the wolves now?" Gerde was overjoyed that she had finally passed the requirements set for her by her instructors to be able to attack the monsters, but her ulterior motive soon became clear. "I want to get the cookies and cakes and sweet rolls!"
"Alright, settle down, Gerde." Bekhi said with a smile that indicated how proud she was that her teaching methods were working. "Next time you smell a wolf, you can take a spot between your dad and me, and then you can kill the monster if you want to."
"Yay!" Gerde skipped along the road and kept her senses alert for any monsters in the vicinity, her tail wagged happily like a puppy who's been promised a treat. Bekhi and I had talked it over while she was asleep and had decided on that formation so that she wouldn't have to kill if she didn't want to and we would be able to keep her safe if she chickened out.
The mountains of the Thomboldahr were still looming to our right, but now the hills that were just shy of mountains that marked the borders of Vermogen were now in sight. We only had another few weeks of travel left before the run was over. I let out an internal sigh of relief that we hadn't needed to fight any dragons at all. Of course, I should have known better than to jinx it.
Gerde stopped dead in her tracks without warning and her nose and ears started twitching. "Papa, there's some monsters running here. But there's a lot! And they're scared of something!" Her face had a worried expression, warning me that something bigger than usual was heading towards us.
"Commander Honmal!" I shouted towards the dwarf who was in charge of our section of the wagon line.
"I heard her, Kvalinn!" Commander Honmal shouted back before issuing his orders. "Teamsters! Get your beasts under cover and take shelter beneath the wagons. Everyone with a shield and weapon, get ready for the fight of your lives. It's time to earn your pay!"
Yells of acknowledgement from warriors and adventurers were heard up and down the line, alongside yelps of fear from teamsters and the shaggy black reindeer who were pulling the wagons. The reindeer were given shelter underneath wooden boards that folded out from the sides of the wagons, this would give them momentary protection against frost dragon breath and the other monsters, that way they wouldn't die instantly and force us to leave the wagons behind.
"Are you ready, Gerde?" Bekhi asked as we stood in a semi solid line with the other adventurers. She had her usual feral grin plastered on her face as she looked into the haze of the morning fog, but she was still looking at Gerde with concern in her eyes. "Just remember your training. Swing if you can kill, block if you can't, then swing later."
Gerde nodded nervously, her shield was held out in front of her and nearly touching ours since we were keeping close together. "For cookies." She said softly to stoke her courage.
I held back a smile and patted her on the head before taking out my axe. "Don't worry, Gerde. If you get too scared, then just retreat to the wagon and you can kill the next wolf."
A few tense minutes of silence later, a quarter elf adventurer whose eyesight was much better than everyone else's shouted out. "Here they come!" He released several arrows into the spring fog, out of which burst several snow wolves, some yetis, and a frost troll.
The monsters didn't seem to be moving as a hunting pack, or even in a coherent manner, they just seemed desperate to run away from something behind them. But we didn't have time to worry about that at the moment, there were snow wolves the size of great danes, and ten to thirteen foot tall yetis and frost trolls charging at us.
"For the ancestors!" Bekhi yelled out with a grin, taking the ax with the Rune of Heroism on it from me.
"For the forge fires!" I called out my battle cry while banging my ax on my shield
"For sweet rolls!" Gerde's battle cry was definitely funnier than anyone else's, but she took it very seriously and imitated me by banging her sword against her shield.
The Rune of Wrath on my left hand started burning, and the rune appeared in the eyes of the monsters, but something seemed to overwhelm their desire to kill me. Primal terror.
Bekhi and I blocked a snow wolf from getting past with our shields, and with just a second of hesitation, Gerde stabbed the wolf in the heart. She then noticeably relaxed, even beginning to grin like Bekhi was, and joined in the fight against the monsters.
Within a few minutes, Gerde had managed to kill a few more snow wolves and a yeti. The frost troll came after me, only to crash down with my ax between its eyes. Bekhi took down the remaining yeti and snow wolves in a whirlwind of blades and blood.
However, it turned out that those monsters were merely the forerunners of a much larger number of beasts. A few turned into dozens, and then those dozens turned into hundreds, engaging every adventurer and warrior along the entire miles long line of wagons in mortal combat as they sought to get past us.
After cutting down an ice wraith, Gerde sniffed at the air and her eyes widened in panic. "Mama! Shield! Use your shield! Dragon!" Bekhi had stopped using her shield after the first few minutes after determining that Gerde was safe, so Gerde rushed over to block her mother with her extra large shield. I followed her example, along with many other adventurers, and the next minute we were pounded by an ice dragon's breath.
In all my training and combat experience, I had never felt anything this weighty press against my shield. It felt as though a sumo wrestler was pressing against me, silently demanding that I yield, and surrender myself to death as an ice pillar.
It was a minute that felt like an eternity, but the pressure ended suddenly with a roar that nearly shattered the ear drums and a crash that was barely less deafening. I was almost afraid to look to my right to check on Bekhi and Gerde, but I was able to let out a sigh of relief when I saw that they were alright. A little pale and jumpy after nearly dying, but they were in one piece. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for several adventurers nearby. They were now either frozen solid, their faces petrified in an expression of pain, or their limbs were frozen solid or broken off with the stumps frozen and black from frostbite.
We didn't have time to mourn our fallen comrades though, because out of the now chilled fog came several ice dragons and winter wyverns. The dragons were typical western style dragons, with wing spans of around thirty to fifty feet and scales that sparkled blue as if they were embedded with ice. While the winter wyverns were just smaller versions of the dragons with similar builds and scale color.
Our section of the line was attacked by only a single large dragon and two wyverns, but they paused when an impossibly deep female voice exploded out from where the crash sound had come from. "Who dares reflect my magic back at me!?" A few booming steps later and we saw the source of the voice.
The dragon that stepped forth into our line of sight was truly colossal. A behemoth of a beast that was at least a sixty feet tall, and a wingspan of over two hundred feet. Each fang in its enormous mouth, that was large enough to eat a bus like a tic tac, was bigger than an average human. Every claw on its feet was massive enough to be used as a kayak. Overall, it inspired terror in everyone who caught sight of it.
Letting the fear sink into those who viewed it, the dragon gave a vehement roar and released another blast of frost magic laden breath at us. This time though it stopped almost as soon as it began.
"Cease your brazen resistance to death and fall to my magic!" The dragon said with the volume of a squall. "I smell you beastkin. I have not supped on your kind in millenia, but I look forward to hearing your bones crack in my teeth!"
A mithril ballista bolt clanged against the scales of the giant dragon with all the effect of a BB gun. She glared in the direction it had come from, and I could have sworn she rolled her eyes. "It seems that the vaunted long memories of the dwarves are insufficient. I will remind you that I have a chapter in your Great Book of Grudges! I am Noldroth. Mother of the demon lord Forndreki. Hear my name and fall into despair."
My mind raced as I recalled the history lessons/tales of adventure that Newman had told around the campfires years ago on the journey north. The second demon lord was a dragon named Forndreki, and he had lived and terrorized Tochka over a thousand years ago before being killed by a summoned hero. Dragons born of Forndreki's seed were known as ancient dragons and were immensely powerful to the point where if one settled in an inhabited area then it was wiser to abandon any local cities and towns rather than fight it. Dragons older than Forndreki were known as legendary dragons but they were supposed to be extinct since the demon lord had fought and killed every dragon older than himself to assume dominance over all dragons, evidently he had spared his mother.
While I was busy combing through my memories, Noldroth was monologuing like a cheesy supervillain with an entitlement complex. "My son was granted exceptional power by Draig, god of dragons, to prevent another demon lord from emerging in this world. But my beloved son Forndreki spat in the gods face and took their power for his own. Becoming the ultimate being that he was always meant to be and earning the title of demon lord from you pitiful, pathetic weaklings. He did not deserve to be killed for destroying a few human cities. The gods do not punish you for stepping on an ant colony. The gods will pay for their treachery."
I would have listened to the monologue with some popcorn, but while Noldroth was speaking, her minions were attacking. Later around the fires, I found that dozens of dragons and wyverns were engaging the entire line of wagons, but around me there were just the two wyverns and one dragon. Bekhi took on the dragon, who took off into the sky with Bekhi on its back as she hacked at its neck.
"Mama!" Gerde cried out in fear, almost dropping her sword, as she watched her mother ascend into the sky.
"Stay close, Gerde. Shield me as I take care of the wyverns!" I plopped down my rucksack and rummaged for my doomsday weapons. A wyvern attempted to attack my unshielded back but Gerde expertly blocked it. "Here we go!" I shouted with a grin reminiscent of Bekhi's.
For the wyvern that had tried to take me from behind, I threw a hammer with an overcharged Rune of Vibration. It struck the beast in the flank before shattering, the magic, though, went into the beast and soon it was coughing up blood as its internal organs vibrated themselves into a bloody mess and quickly killed it. As for the other wyvern, I went with a knife with an equally overcharged Rune of disease. Once it pierced the hide of the wyvern, I felt an overwhelming thankfulness that I hadn't eaten recently as its end was too gruesome for me to describe. Finally, for the still monologuing Noldroth, I took out an ax with the Rune of Explosion that was so overcharged with magic that the rune lines threw off the occasional spark.
Taking cover behind Gerde's shield, I threw the ax with all my strength at her body and then supported Gerde's shield with her. The resulting blast was heard across the battlefield and the blast waves blew away one or two adventurers who crashed into the wagons, fortunately they were alright and they took the opportunity to hide under the wagons.
"Hm, I did not expect a weapon from Hjerouhrdinn's age to still exist today. Especially with that much magic left in it." Gerde and I peered over the edge of her shield and saw that all my ax had accomplished was to chip a few scales. "It is fortunate that I spent so many centuries in what the humans call 'the cursed zones' soaking up the magic left behind by my precious son. If I had not, then perhaps I would have been killed by that weapon." She then seemed to notice for the first time that the two wyverns were dead and the dragon was nowhere to be seen. "Hmph, what weaklings to be slain by a dwarf. Framerre. Choinnonth. Kill that dwarf and the beastkin. The destruction of the world cannot wait any longer than it already has."
Two dragons swooped down from the sky at her call and charged at us while Noldroth resumed her rantings about the destruction of the world. Apparently this was her way of getting back at the gods for allowing a summoned hero into the world to kill her son. She kept speaking at the same volume throughout her speech though, making me really wish that someone would impose a hundred and forty character cap on her ravings. As for the two dragons, one tried using their frost breath on Gerde but she reflected it with her shield and killed it, the other one met his end from an overclocked Rune of Lightning that fried the dragon with a clap of thunder.
"Insolent mortals!" Noldroth fumed. "You still cling to hope that you can survive against me! Not only that, but you have killed my precious grandchildren! I will see to it that not only your families, but your clans, and your entire mountains, are ground into dust beneath my feet! I will hunt those you love down into their deepest darkest caverns, and when they reach the halls of your ancestors, they will blame you for eternity for the extinction of your race!"
In an instant, images of Nurnwuhr, Vesturhildrun, and the entire mountain of Einangrad, all ravaged and destroyed by angry dragons flashed before my eyes. I looked to my side and saw Gerde shaking in fear next to me. "Gerde. Let's go kill that dragon." My calm voice seemed to help her recover, and together we started walking towards the kaiju like dragon
"What about mama?" Gerde asked in a scared voice. I didn't need to answer the question though because Bekhi literally dropped out of the sky, riding a dead dragon like it was an atomic bomb.
"What'd I miss?" Bekhi bounced off the headless dragon corpse and looked around at the dead dragons and wyverns. "Huh, so that's what you've been hoarding in your bag. A little too icky for my taste but definitely effective."
Noldroth stared at the dragon that Bekhi had slain with an open mouth and wide eyes before yelling out in grief. "Aymmuroil! No! How could you have killed the firstborn of Forndreki you pestilent dwarf!? How could you have killed my first grandchild! The most powerful of all my descendants!" Her voice then hardened in anger. "I swear on the name of my beloved son Forndreki, I will kill you three so thoroughly that not a single shred of your souls will make it to the halls of your ancestors, and then I will follow your scent and do the same to anyone you have ever associated with, from your family to the baker who sold you bread, they will all be banished from existence!"
The wails and howls of the angry dragon continued unabated for some time, but we didn't care to listen. Bekhi and I looked at each other and nodded. We knew that we had to kill this dragon before it could hurt our families.
"For Vesturhildrun!" Bekhi yelled into the raging storm that Noldroths shrieks of revenge had kicked up.
"For Nurnwuhr!" I shouted as I handed Bekhi a new weapon since she was out of unbroken weapons. Aymmuroil's scales must have been very tough.
"For Mama and Papa!" Gerde cried in her cute voice as she joined us in the charge.
Despite the bravery in our charge, and the no doubt heroic music that was playing as we attacked, Noldroth's legs were the size of redwood trunks and our weapons had just as much effect as if we were hacking at one. After several minutes of us trying to chop down the pillars of scale and flesh that were Noldroth's legs, I felt an intensely warm heat next to me. Gerde had ditched the sword I had given her to fight with, and had grabbed an ax from my bag when I wasn't looking.
"Gerde! What are you doing with that ax!" I tried to grab it from her, but the heat coming off it repelled me. It was somehow hotter than the fiercest forge fire I had ever encountered. The rune on the weapon was the Rune of Fire, but it wasn't one of my doomsday weapons and I hadn't given it more than a middling amount of power. There was no way that I knew of for this weapon to be giving off this level of power!
"I won't let the mean dragon hurt mama or papa!" Gerde yelled to herself. She didn't seem to be able to hear me, or notice the ax that was now burning so intensely that the air was shimmering around it. "I won't let the mean dragon hurt my granddad or grandpapa before I meet them!" Her swings were now cutting deep into the dragon's flesh, carving black and smoldering chunks of meat out. "I won't let the mean dragon hurt Uncle Richard or Auntie Kat!" The dragon's flesh was now starting to burn even after Gerde removed her ax from the leg for another swing, and smoke was starting to leak from between the scales. "FOR SWEET ROLLS!" With a final swing, the ax head shattered and the magic that had been building in it coursed through the dragon's veins.
"You! What are you doing down there? What is happening? No! This cannot be! I am the mother of the greatest demon lord this world has seen, or will ever see again, I cannot die to mortal hands! I must have my revenge upon the gods! I… I… RAAAAAH!" Noldroth let out a deathcry that caused the very ground to shake before her knees buckled and she started falling like a mighty tree.
"Run for it!" Bekhi and I grabbed Gerde's hands and raced to get out from under the shadow of the collapsing dragon before we were crushed. We barely made it out before Noldroth's head impacted with the dirt, the shock waves knocking us on our faces.
"Phew, now that was a good fight." Bekhi was still grinning, but she looked absolutely exhausted, and for perhaps the first time in years, she didn't look ready for another fight.
"Good job, Gerde." I patted her on the head as she lay face down in the dirt. "We're going to have a talk later about you using my weapons without permission, but whatever you did back there saved us… Gerde? Are you ok?"
The tail that would normally be wagging at my praise, was completely motionless. She hadn't moved an inch from where we had been thrown, and when I turned her over, her face was deadly pale, and her eyes were blank and glazed over.
"Papa?" Gerde barely managed to weakly whisper. "I can't see anything. Is the mean dragon gone?"
"Kvalinn! We need to get Gerde to the medical wagons!" Despite being completely drained, Bekhi put one of Gerde's arms over her shoulder before barking at me to follow her example. Gerde was only a little shorter than both of us despite her young age, so it wasn't easy getting her to the nearest wagon with physicians, especially since she was completely limp.
When we arrived at the spot in the line for the medical wagons, we found that they were being burned in a giant bonfire as the physicians and healers tried to save as many frozen limbs as they could. Ice dragon breath, even from young and immature dragons, can freeze the very blood in its veins and can even freeze someone solid if they don't have a firm grip on a shield with the Rune of Fire. There were also innumerable wounds from the claws and teeth of the wyverns, snow wolves, yetis, and frost trolls, that were being cared for on the basis of triage. The scene in front of us was like a battle hospital, disaster recovery ward, and major city Emergency Room all rolled into one.
"Kvalinn!" I saw Ulyanna storm up to me while heavily leaning on her wizard staff for support. "What in the ancestors name happened to Gerde? You're supposed to be keeping her safe!" Gerde half opened her eyes from the loud shouting, and murmured "Sweet rolls?" before passing out again. A look of recognition passed across Ulyanna's face. "Ulrick's undies. Here, hold Gerde's nose and have her drink this." She then fished out an incredibly delicate looking glass vial that had several elaborate and beautiful carvings molded into it.
"What is it?" Bekhi asked as we lay Gerde down on the ground and opened her mouth.
"Magic restoration potion. I stole it off an elf a while back. A drop or two usually recovers all my magic and lets me keep fighting, but since Gerde is a beastkin who appears to have used all her magic, we'll need to use the entire bottle to save her life." Ulyanna took off the cap of the vial and poured the entire contents of what smelled and looked like pink lemonade down Gerde's throat.
"Now what? Can the physician help her?" I asked when the vial was empty.
"No, and don't even bother to ask. They've got much bigger issues than trying to save an infant who should be at home, and not on the most dangerous expedition on the continent." Ulyanna's words were harsh and pointed, and I had no rebuttal.
After a few minutes, Gerde's eyes suddenly flashed opened. "Sweet rolls!" She called out, but when she tried to get up, Ulyanna held her down.
"Stay down, Gerde." Ulyanna said firmly. "You used up all of your magic which nearly killed you. Rest for a while and don't try to move. I'll be back later to find out how you emptied all your magic. If you are a good girl for your parents, then maybe I'll be back with a sweet roll for you." She then heaved herself up using her staff, and limped off to check on other people.
"How do you feel, Gerde? Any better?" Gerde looked up at her mother, her eyes were now focused but it was clear she was exhausted.
"I feel funny. Like I'm hungry, but full at the same time. Can I have some yeti meat, Papa?" Smiling in relief that she was feeling well enough to ask for meat, I took out some of my private stash of yeti jerky and gave her a couple pieces. She then fell asleep with a contented smile with her head resting on Bekhi's lap.
The armies didn't move again for two weeks. Not only were the physicians working around the clock to save everyone possible, but adventurers and warriors were busy butchering the bodies of all the monsters that had been slain in the battle. The body of Noldroth alone took the efforts of hundreds of people, and a full week, to dismantle into transportable parts.
Gerde was feeling much better after some rest, although she was now constantly on the lookout for Ulyanna's return bearing sweet rolls. At the end of the two weeks, the three of us were summoned to the tent of the General of the Assembled Armies.
Standing around a metal brazier, was General Nurathuri, Ulyanna Fireflinger, and several other high-ranking dwarven commanders who were also high-ranking members of the Warrior Clan. A few of them had their arms in slings or bandages on their bodies, but one thing they all had in common though, was the unmistakable air of authority that emanated from them that was almost more powerful than their beards. (Obviously Ulyanna, as the only female in the group, did not have one.)
After the formal introductions were over, General Nurathuri carefully looked over the three of us with his brown eyes while stroking his long chestnut beard. "Kvalinn Runecursed. I'm told that you and your party managed to not only kill several dragons and wyverns, but also killed the enormous dragon claiming to be the legendary class dragon Noldroth. As general of the Assembled Armies, you have my thanks. Also, I have heard in the lines of adventurers that you crafted the powerful runes and weapons that several of them have used with great distinction in the past few weeks of travel. When we reach Vermogen, I would like to commission a weapon from you, we will discuss the details when we reach there since if Gerde does not make it there then my vault might be emptier than it should be."
There was a round of chuckles from a couple of the Elders of the Warrior Clan. "I told you he would commission a weapon from the beardless youth. That will be ten silver, Elder Thodmoth." The silver changed hands, proving that they bet on all sorts of things and not just Gerde's survival. General Nurathuri then turned to Bekhi.
"Bekhi Mubrimssdottir. Witnesses recounted how you soared into the sky on the back of a large dragon, only to crash back down while riding its corpse. Your bravery brings honor to your clan, and if you weren't already clearly together with Kvalinn, I would have offered you the hand of my son to bring you into the Warrior Clan. As it is, I will be speaking on your behalf to the Adventurer's Guild to increase your rank and reward, as well as giving you the title of dragonslayer with the guild." He then leaned down to speak to Gerde.
"Sweet roll?" Gerde asked with puppy eyes that could have wrung a coin from a miser, prompting laughter all around.
"Sure, Gerde." General Nurathuri grinned and gestured to an assistant, who opened a chest with a large lock, and took out a small wooden box which he handed to Gerde. She slowly opened the box with stars in her eyes, and after sniffing at the sweet roll with an extremely happy smile, she devoured the sweet treat inside five seconds.
Once the laughter had died down at the adorable sight of Gerde forlornly licking her fingers for crumbs, General Nurathuri resumed speaking to her. "Commander Ulyanna has told me that you risked your life to slay the enormous dragon by forcing all of your magic into a runed weapon to overpower it. If that dragon had lived, then it is doubtless that it would have slain everyone in this expedition before moving on to devastate the entire Thomboldahr League. I will be requesting that the Warrior Clan add your name to our book of debts, so if you ever need anything from anyone in the clan, then you will only need to ask."
"Can I have another sweet roll? Or a cookie?"
"Ha! I like the way you think, Gerde. But I didn't bring any cookies on this trip and I'm out of sweet rolls. But I heard that you killed a snow wolf, a yeti, and an ice wraith during the attack, winning me several bets at very long odds, so I'll give you this to buy something sweet when we reach Vermogen." General Norathuri then flipped Gerde a gold coin. She caught it, and then asked Bekhi if she could buy a lot of cookies and cakes with it. I made a mental note to teach her about money soon, before she spent it all on a single cake.
Our meeting concluded with the other generals letting me know that they would like to meet personally after we reached Vermogen so that they could order weapons from me. I was forced to promise weapons to at least a half dozen of them before they said I could go.
If I could open up a shop in Vermogen, then I'd have several well paying contracts right off the bat, and word of mouth would probably get customers lining out the door for me. That would bring in a lot of money that I could use to start working on some of some of my tech gadgets and maybe even start moving the country towards 21st century tech. I looked towards the west with an eager grin.